1 Samuel

About 1 Samuel

First Samuel tells how Israel got its first kings: the prophet Samuel anoints Saul, Saul's heart drifts from God, and God chooses an unlikely shepherd boy named David instead. It was written to show that the LORD looks at the heart, not outward appearance, and that He raises up and removes leaders. The book moves Israel from the chaos of the judges toward the kingdom God will build through David's line.

Written by

The book is anonymous; it is named for Samuel, who dies partway through, and 1 Chronicles mentions records kept by Samuel, Nathan, and Gad that may lie behind it.

When

It covers roughly 1100 to 1010 BC, from Samuel's birth to the death of King Saul; the book itself was compiled sometime after the events, and scholars differ on exactly when.

Themes

• God looks at the heart
• Obedience over sacrifice
• The rise and fall of leaders
• Waiting on God's timing
• Prayer and God's answer

Key verses

• 1 Samuel 2:2There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
• 1 Samuel 15:22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
• 1 Samuel 16:7But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.